Investment Property & the Personal Residence Exclusion

Contrary to what many may suppose, the initial purpose underlying the acquisition of a property does not necessarily bar future invocation of the principal residence exclusion (under IRS section 121). As we’ve discussed earlier, Section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code allows homeowners to exclude up to $250,000 ($500,000 for married couples filing jointly) of gain from the sale of a “principal residence” (as defined by the code). What we haven’t mentioned yet, however, is that property may be converted from its original purpose — say, for investment — into a primary dwelling specifically to take advantage of the principal residence exclusion. This is an extremely useful piece of information for many real estate owners. In many cases, a person will acquire real property as an investment — a vacation rental house, for example — and then later decide to use that same property as a personal residence. As long as the property is used as a “principal residence” — meaning that the owner has used the property as a residence for at least two years out of the most recent five-year period — the owner may utilize the exclusion provided by section 121.

Perhaps the most common instance of “converting” a property initially used for investment purposes into a property eligible for the exclusion provided by section 121 is the conversion of rental property. If they have access to the requisite funds, many real estate owners choose to invest in rental property in order to generate regular supplemental income. They may decide to acquire a vacation house and then rent this property out to tenants. It may become financially beneficial (or financially necessary) for the real estate owner to eventually convert this investment rental property into a primary dwelling at some point in the future; once the owner satisfies the time requirements of the provisions of section 121, they can then sell the property and exclude as much of the gain as the section allows.

Converting investment property into a primary dwelling for the purpose of invoking section 121 of the IRC is just one piece of expertise that the team at HTC is familiar with. As promised, we will return to the sixteenth amendment very soon, but before we do we thought it helpful to draw attention to this little gem of tax knowledge. Stay tuned for more gems in the future!

About johnSeattle CPA+John Huddleston has written extensively on tax related subjects of interest to small business owners. He is a graduate of Washington State University and the University of Washington School of Law.